Concern grows over the cost of inspections

The FSA wants abattoirs to pay about £21m for statutory food hygiene and animal welfare inspections.

Small abattoirs would struggle to raise their share, according to the Association for Independent Meat Suppliers and it and the NFU have warned that the costs would be passed backwards to farmers and onwards to butchers. They are also concerned about further centralisation of meat processing at a time when demand for local meat is growing.

They argue that if the FSA is going to pass on its costs, it must submit to a detailed examination of how those costs are run up and how they might be reduced.

NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh said in a letter to Defra secretary Caroline Spelman, when the FSA announced its cost-cutting plan: “If the FSA will not do more to reduce its costs, we should look for alternatives. This could be the delivery of inspections by an external provider, with the FSA carrying out an audit function.”

Farmers feel that vets earn easy money for doing a job which could be performed by less qualified personnel. But the vets say they are the thin white line which means bad practice in the slaughter industry remains the exception rather than the rule.

The FSA Board is due to discuss the matter at its next meeting, on May 25, which will be open to the public. In preparation for that discussion, a series of regional meetings to hear ‘stakeholder views’ has been organised – at Durham and Bath on May 16 and Carlisle and Colchester on May 17. Similar consultations are being organised in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

FSA Board Members and officials will host the meetings. Meanwhile, on May 13, a summary of responses to the consultation on the subject so far will be published on the FSA website.

To register for attendance at one of the meetings, call 01772 767784 or email: [email protected]/